The Easy Way by Allen Carr is a great book. I read it 3 times and am in the process of reading it for the 4th time now.
I mean I don’t like the pep talk and that solemn promise crap, but other than that the book reveals gambling for what it really is.
It also let’s you get a different perspective on the whole thing, a different mindset.
But the book in itself doesn’t work magic. No book does I think. At least not for the vast majority of gamblers.
I thought I had it down so cool after not gambling for 60 days only to relapse big on the 63rd day. I wasn’t getting complacent or anything, I knew the danger is out there, I didn’t lower my guard, i was still coming here almost every day and visited support groups a couple of times a week, but it still hit me. I went onto a gambling spree and lost what I would normally have lost had I been gambling for 2 months.
In other words, the book is great, but it’s not enough. It’s probably like ‘helping others’ that you mentioned. No doubt great in the beginning, but after a while, chance are it no longer does the trick .
One other thing, I felt dozens, maybe even hundreds of times in my life absolutely, positively certain, no doubt whatsoever, that I WILL NEVER GAMBLE again. Sometimes I would gamble in matter of minutes. I’m not exaggerating. After a huge loss i would solemnly promise myself I would not gamble again and I would be absolutely certain I wouldn’t. Then I’d get a notification that a friend logged online, I would ask him for money, he would send me the money and off i went.
You have to find out what works for you. I know coming here helps me. Helping others, coming here, exercising, growing flowers, teaching your kids chess etc might work for you.
But as p said it probably takes years to fine-tune it…
Also, you should take everything I say with a grain of salt. I’m the asshole at day #0